Buddy Dive - bad attitude?

[MXGratefulDiver]

I know the laws of physics and my undergraduate degree is in physiology. You're an intelligent man, I'm surprised concepts of physics and physiology elude you.

I happen to be an intelligent man with a degree in physics ... and I fail to see how the laws of physics apply here, at least in the manner in which you're attempting to apply them.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Twilight Zone because of the alien physiology and physics involved? Or do people just need remedial courses in physics and physiology?

Buoyancy is a physical construct. It takes a certain amount of weight to displace a diver's buoyancy. Archimedes figured that out way before SCUBA was invented. So if you agree with Archimedes, you must think that some human beings are filled with air instead of the same muscle, fat, organ, and bone tissues that other humans are made of. Otherwise, bone is bone. Muscle is muscle. Organs are organs. And fat is fat. Take an individual's BMI and body weight, factor in buoyancy characteristics of the thermal protection, and you can compute how much weight it will take to sink that person. If that person fails to sink, then you can start playing your Twilight Zone theme.

(BTW, I always suspected J was an alien because she thinks she needs more weight than she should in order to complete her dives. When she got bitten by a moray and bled green blood, I found the truth! Please keep this on Scubaboard, though, as I don't want the Men in Black to find out we know.)

... haven't you ever bled underwater? As a matter of fact, it does look green ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScubaSteve]

... haven't you ever bled underwater? As a matter of fact, it does look green ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Depending on your depth.

......I would like to do a study on this. I wonder if my buddy will be up to it .

 

[Mossman]

... haven't you ever bled underwater? As a matter of fact, it does look green ...

I leave the bleeding to J, she's much better at it.

Actually, the first time I noticed her green blood was in Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, where we dove right after I got certed in 1999 and she was still in process. Naturally, they took an uncertified diver down to 80' and naturally they handed her a puffed up pufferfish, on which she poked her finger and bled a little green. But the moray eel finger-shredding was much cooler. Green blood flowing everywhere. I immediately grabbed what was left of her hand and held it tight while trying to keep a safe ascent rate back to the boat, mainly because you never know where those Men in Black are hiding and I didn't want any of them to see her green blood. Fortunately, back on the boat, she was able to transmute her blood back to red (which was more impressive than green against the white fiberglass of the boat), and I had to pay the Maui ER over $400 to keep them quiet as they stitched up her alien hand.

 

[Mossman]

I happen to be an intelligent man with a degree in physics ... and I fail to see how the laws of physics apply here, at least in the manner in which you're attempting to apply them.

You really fail to see how buoyancy laws apply to diver weighting? Where didja get that degree?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You really fail to see how buoyancy laws apply to diver weighting? Where didja get that degree?

No ... I fail to see how you can lump all the possible variations and combinations of human tissue into a simple statement about displacement.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScubaSteve]

We are not just talking about tissue but also bone and muscle. Every aspect of the human body works to determine how much weight is needed to sink the body only. Lung capacity, stomach size etc..... I am not a physics professor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night and I know that variation can and should be expected with weighting. How much variation is another question. To say that James is overweighted at 26# with nothing else to support his number or that statement is not sensible IMO. There is way too much missing in the way of information to make a statement like that.

 

[Mossman]

No ... I fail to see how you can lump all the possible variations and combinations of human tissue into a simple statement about displacement.

OK, so you don't disagree with the physics, just the physiology?

How do dive computers lump the possible variations and combinations of human tissue into a simple computation about nitrogen absorption?

 

[adurso]

OK, so you don't disagree with the physics, just the physiology?

How do dive computers lump the possible variations and combinations of human tissue into a simple computation about nitrogen absorption?

if it was a simple computation no one would need a computer....

 

[Mike]

Change your statement to "some people just prefer more weight than others" and I'll agree wholeheartedly.

My wife has no fetish toward lead. She simply needs more.

She's been through peak buoyancy class twice, one of the instructors had over 12,000 dives (Cozumel), the other had over 4000 dives (Bonaire), the classes were 2 years apart and they both came up with the same amount of weight, which is a number that is more than is expected. Both of these instructors made mention that the number was higher than you'd typically expect, and both being as experienced instructors as they were made no head scratching movements or made faces of confusion. They were well aware and stated it, that different people's bodies have different make up and some people fall outside of what would be the text book formulas used to calculate weight.

There is nothing really perplexing about the issue unless you're still under the impression that one formula fits all and you haven't learned yet that there are people who will prove the formula wrong.